Chapter 12: Rock Bottom
Lauren hadn't seen Joey since that day. Alice had told her that Joey didn't want to see her anymore either, although his sister reckoned he didn't mean it. Lauren hadn't tried to contact him either because she wouldn't change who she was for him. She didn't see herself as an alcoholic; sure she liked a drink but she was no different to most others her age, right? Yet every night she still drank until she passed out; trying to do the one thing she could to help her forget all the heartache again. She needed Joey but he couldn't accept her the way she was; he didn't trust her to be strong enough and make her own reasonable decisions.
Her parents had finally returned home, her Mum seeming a bit stronger as each day passed. They still had a long road ahead but it was nice to see even a slight improvement.
"Lauren?"
"Yeah, Dad?" Lauren watched her bedroom door open.
"You ok, babe? You seem a bit, I don't know, upset?" Max asked concerned, sitting down on her bed.
Her eyes filled with tears. "Am I a failure, Dad? Wasting my life away?"
"Hey, come here." Max pulled her into a hug. "Of course not. Why would you think that?"
"Just been doing a lot of thinking lately. I just feel like my life has no purpose anymore." She admitted; everyone else had something going for them but no matter how hard she tried, nothing seemed to ever work out for her.
"Lauren, your purpose is to keep being you. You're incredible. If it wasn't for you, I'd of never known about your Mum's cancer; you looked after her, you were strong. When she needed treatment, you went out and got the money to make it happen; you set yourself a goal and you made it happen. Your Mum and I are proud of you, especially after everything with the drinking. You now just need to figure out what you want to do with your life; college or whatever." The chocolate eyed girl closed her eyes as more fresh tears fell; her guilt getting to her. She had been lying and hiding how much she was drinking again so she wasn't judged. "Hey, why don't you go wash your face then come on down. We're having all the family over and I could do with a hand setting up, ok?" Lauren nodded. "Good girl. I love you, babe."
"I love you too, Dad."
Wait, the whole family?
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"Joey, come on, you have to come over. Uncle Max wants to finally meet you." Alice begged. Her brother was being his usual stubborn self. She knew he was avoiding Lauren, but this was the first time for both of them to be included in a family event. "Please, Joey."
"I already told you I'm not going, Alice." He refused to move from his position on her sofa.
He was visiting her for the weekend but hadn't left the house since he had arrived; mainly for fear of bumping into Lauren. Alice knew her brother wasn't coping well with trying to comprehend his feelings; it was the first time he had ever really fallen in love and not being able to express his emotions seemed to build his frustration levels instead. He had been throwing himself into work or if he wasn't at work, he was usually down the gym. Alice wanted to help but she knew it wasn't she who could help her brother anymore.
"Look, we're supposed to go in twenty minutes, so hurry up, go get a shower and get dressed." She turned the TV off and threw a cushion at him. "After all Tanya has gone through, and is still going through, the least you could do is respect her invite to lunch; show them you're better than Dad. They are our family, Joey."
Joey groaned at his sister's use of emotional blackmail, which up until Lauren came into his life, he'd never been affected by; the only emotion he had truly known before was the hatred he held for their father, something Alice gave up trying to change. Standing up, he ran an exasperated hand over his face knowing Alice was right. He knew how sick Tanya was; it was her sickness that had brought Lauren into his life in the first place.
"Fine, but once lunch is done, I'm outta there."
Alice grinned, victoriously. "Absolutely."
"I won't be long." Alice waited for him to disappear upstairs and to hear the shower switch on, before closing the living room door; pulling out her phone, she hit call on the highlighted number.
"Abi, it's me. Operation younger siblings to the rescue, is a go."She whispered into her phone. Yes she and her cousin, Abi, who had been filled in on the cousin loving going on, had decided to stage a younger sibling intervention knowing how miserable and depressed Joey and Lauren were without each other.
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"Abi, get the door, would you?"Max shouted, as he poured drinks for Jack, Sharron, Bianca and Carol.
"Dad, where do you want these?" Lauren asked, walking into the living/dining room with various items balanced in her arms.
"Just put them there, please." Lauren nodded.
"Uncle Max, it's good to have you back." Lauren looked up hearing Alice's voice.
However, Lauren instantly felt her stomach drop when she saw him walk in behind his sister. He was here! What was he doing here!
"How's it going, Alice?" Max hugged his niece before turning to the young male behind her. "You must be the famous Joey I've heard so much about?"
"Yeah, nice to meet you." Joey offered his hand to Max, ignoring the girl to the side of him. He felt his inside's flip being so close to her again.
"Good to meet you, too. Can see you're a chip off the old Branning block with those looks, ey, Jack?" Jack raised his glass hearing his brother's remarks to their nephew.
Joey laughed. "Hopefully that's all I got from Derek."
"Uncle Max, where's Auntie Tanya?" Alice asked, interrupting.
"She'll be down soon." His niece nodded and smiled. "Lauren, could I speak to you and Joey a moment please?"
"Dad, I need to-"
"Lauren." Max gave her a warning look making her sigh; she turned on and walked back into the kitchen, ahead of the two Branning men.
Closing the door, Max turned to see Lauren leaning by the washing machine, next to the back door, while Joey stood by the cooker, the two obviously avoiding looking at or being near each other; the tension in the room obvious. Something that confused him knowing they had seemed to strike up a close bond in the last few weeks.
"What did you want, Dad?" Lauren's agitation was getting to her and her father knew it from her tone.
"I wanted to say Thank You in person, Joey. Lauren told me you loaned her the money for Tanya's treatment. I want you to know you're welcome in this house, anytime. We'll pay you back as soon as we can." Max looked at his nephew with gratitude.
Joey shook his head no. "I already told Lauren I don't want it back. Think of it as a gift. I wanted to help; being family and all. Plus, think of it as well as my Thanks for looking after Alice when Derek was around and after he died. I know she said the family helped her a lot."
"You sure?" Max asked, Lauren remaining silent. He knew normally he would insist on paying the money back but with how hard things were at the minute, it could take a while and Lauren didn't need the pressure of the debt overhanging her.
"Absolutely."
Not being able to stand there any longer, Lauren pushed past her Dad and walked out the kitchen.
"Everything alright between you two?" Max asked, hearing Lauren slam her bedroom door shut, moments later.
"Yeah, just had a bit of a disagreement. You know what girls are like; take things to heart, don't they?" Joey had to fight the urge to follow her.
"Good luck then with that. Lauren tends to hold grudges."
"So I've been told." Joey followed Max back into the other room, although, his thoughts were with the girl upstairs.
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"So, how's business going, Joey?" Jack asked; they were all sat around the table eating.
"Yeah good, thanks. Been busy recently but can't complain in this economy, can I?" Joey had tried his best to seem interested when people spoke but he couldn't help noticing there was something off with Lauren. His attention hardly left her since she reappeared after storming off earlier.
"Isn't this nice, having the family together? We should do this more often." Carol commented, her brothers also vocally agreeing.
"Yeah, cause we're the picture perfect family, ain't we?"
Max closed his eyes hearing his daughter's snide comment. "Lauren..."
"Lauren, why don't we get some air?" Whitney suggested, standing up and grabbing her friend's arm.
"No. You know what; I'm done playing happy families. We've got nothing to be happy about; why should we celebrate out fucked up lives?!"
"Lauren!" Tanya scolded her daughter for her use of language in front of the youngsters present.
"Lauren, let's go." Whitney forced her friend out the room before she said anything else. "What's wrong with you? Getting drunk in the middle of the day and ruining things for your family!"
"Well, it seems to be the only thing I can do right. I'm outta here." Lauren grabbed her jacket and stammered out the door. Whitney let her go knowing Lauren needed time to sober up, alone.
"Abi, has she been like this the whole time we were away?" Tanya questioned, as Whitney walked back in the room.
Abi sighed knowing there was no point in lying. "On and off. Some weeks were worse than others. But she seemed to stop when you got back, you've seen her and she hasn't been drinking in front of us at least."
"Or maybe she's just been clever at hiding it again." Max commented, recalling Lauren's previous actions. "Tan, where are you going?"
Joey sat watching the drama unfold. He'd seen this coming really; despite the short time he'd known her, he knew this would happen but he couldn't understand why the others around him hadn't tried harder, to stop her, before it got to this point.
"Her draw is full of these." Tanya emerged back from upstairs, holding up several empty glass bottles that once held various alcoholic liquids.
Not being able to take it anymore, the pain of knowing she was hurting herself partly due to him, Joey stood up and walked out, confusing everyone.
"Joey!" Alice called after him, the door slamming shut behind him.
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Lauren was in the park, throwing up into a bin. It was late and was freezing cold out but she couldn't go back home; she was too ashamed. She knew she'd finally hit rock bottom.
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Joey lay in bed unable to sleep. He'd driven around for a while after he left trying to let out some frustrations. Lauren needed help and nobody was forcing her. He'd tried but couldn't get though to her; maybe if her close friends or immediate family tried harder again, maybe she might listen. Truthfully, he knew he was fooling himself with his thoughts; she was past wanting help from them.
He glanced at his clock, which flashed two forty five am. He needed to get some sleep; he had a meeting at nine in the morning.
Rolling over, he closed his eyes when his doorbell went; who was that at this time?
Grabbing a t-shirt and throwing it on over his jogging bottoms, he headed towards the heavy front as the bell rang again.
Opening the door, he sighed at his visitor.
"I think I need your help."
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A/N: So not long left for the story. I'll be sad to see this go to be honest. Only three chapters left. Anyway, thanks for the reviews! Love to hear your thoughts on what might happen now. I'll update tomorrow! :)
